If you haven’t figured it out by now, I love playing and experimenting with makeup. I’ve always been passionate about exploring different brands and types of cosmetics to create a certain look. However, I’ve recently begun to realize that this may come at a cost beyond any type of monetary value and perhaps more thought should be put into the types of brands I choose to purchase from.
Recently, I was scrolling through TikTok for beauty inspiration and came across some product reviews from NARS. NARS was one of my favorite brands and had been a staple in my makeup routine since my sophomore year of high school. So, you can imagine my surprise upon discovering the numerous amounts of negative comments under the video. “NARS is not cruelty free!” “NARS tests on animals!” I went on the NARS website where they claimed to not conduct animal testing or involve third parties in animal testing on their behalf with the exception being where it is required by law. This essentially means that while the company itself does not test on animals, they allow their products to be sold in areas such as China where their products must be tested on animals to be made available to the public. This had me wondering how many brands allow this to happen and the number was astonishing.
I was deeply saddened to see that so many of my favorite brands had allowed their products to be sold in places where animal testing was required. It made me ponder the ethicality of continuing to buy products from a brand that did not test on animals themselves, but still allowed third parties to test their products. The answer was there was simply no morality behind it. These brands willingly allowed their products to be sold in such places to generate more popularity and thus greater profits with a great disregard for the animals injured or killed in the process. Furthermore, there are so many brands and alternatives that do not allow this and thus can be considered cruelty free.
Hundreds of thousands of animals are killed each year due to testing. It has been found that animals are in great pain during the process. Not only are they forced to endure this for days or even weeks, but they are kept isolated in small cages during that time. They are treated like slaves who undergo mental and physical suffering until they are killed either by the testing or the testers themselves. What’s even worse is that animal testing may be inefficient when discerning whether certain cosmetics are suitable for the human body.
Human Society says, “Different species can respond differently when exposed to the same chemicals”. Not only does this render animal testing unnecessary, but there is already an abundance of ingredients that have been deemed safe for human use. Companies could simply include those products in their cosmetics instead so there would be no need to allow this kind of cruelty to happen.
Fortunately, there are ways we as consumers can fight against this. We can educate ourselves about cruelty free brands and spread the word. Cruelty Free Kitty is a great website with a strict database of which brands are cruelty free and which are not. When buying new makeup, I now almost always check in with them to ensure I’m not buying from a brand that allows animal testing on their products.
By not supporting these brands, we are increasing pressure on them to remove their products from marketplaces that allow cruel testing on animals. I encourage everyone to do their research and together we can hopefully reduce the number of innocent animals killed each year for our benefit. Beauty does not have to come from cruelty!